Vacation rental direct bookings: the maths and what the site needs - Zephyra Studio

Your own website cuts commission only on the bookings a guest makes directly with you. Booking.com charges a percentage of the total booking amount, cleaning fees included, and Airbnb charges either a single fee, 15.5% for most hosts on it, or a split fee, depending on the model. Whether a website pays off depends on three numbers you already have: average booking value, your commission rate and the yearly cost of the site. Below are the maths, a list of what a vacation rental website must have, and what not to expect from it.

What commission really costs

Booking.com states in its partner guidance that commission is a set percentage of the total booking amount. The base includes the accommodation price and the extra fees you charge, such as cleaning and service fees, and it is applied once the guest checks out. It is not charged on local taxes such as a city tax, but in most countries it is charged on VAT, depending on local law. It is also paid on non-refundable bookings whether or not the guest stayed, and on no-shows and cancellations for which you charge a fee.

Booking.com does not state one general percentage. It depends on the country, the property type and the agreement you signed at registration. If the percentage on your reservation statement is higher than the one in your contract, you may be taking part in a programme such as Preferred Partner or Visibility Booster. The 15 to 20 percent figures that can be found on agency websites do not come from Booking.com guidance, so read your own rate in your agreement or in the reservation statement in the extranet.

Airbnb describes two fee models in its help centre. With the split fee the host usually pays 3% and the guest pays a separate fee of 14.1% to 16.5% of the subtotal. With the single fee the whole amount is deducted from the host payout: most hosts pay 15.5%, the rest mostly between 14% and 16%. The single fee is mandatory for most hosts, including those who use property management software. Airbnb says it is moving hosts from the split fee to the single fee step by step and that after switching you cannot go back. Check your own account for the model that applies to you.

The maths: how many direct bookings cover the site

The formula is short. Yearly saving is the number of direct stays, times the average stay value, times the commission rate you would have paid on the platform. A website pays off when that saving passes the yearly cost of the site, the booking system and payment handling.

An example with assumptions you replace with your own: a three-night stay at 60 euros a night is 180 euros. At 15.5% commission (the Airbnb single fee, used only as an example) that is 27.90 euros per stay. If the site and booking system cost you 600 euros a year, the break-even point is about 22 stays a year (600 divided by 27.90).

Two corrections make the maths more honest. First, count only the direct guests who would otherwise have booked through a platform. A guest who would not have come any other way is new income, not a saving. Second, include the cost of taking payment: if the guest pays by card through the site, the payment processor charges its own fee.

Where direct guests come from

A website does not bring guests on its own. These are the paths through which a direct booking can happen.

A guest who has already stayed with you knows your name and can look for you. A guest searching for accommodation on Google can come across your site and your Google Business Profile, which gives an apartment a map, photos and a link to the site. A guest who saw your listing on a platform can search your name to check the price and conditions. These are possible paths, not measured figures: for your own property you see them in your own records, for example by asking "how did you find us" in an enquiry.

Google also has a dedicated channel, vacation rentals on Google. According to the Google help page, listing is free, and the free booking links send the guest to your website with no fee to Google for referrals or bookings. Rates, availability and content are sent to Google through an integration, and Google lists on a separate page the connectivity partners, meaning channel managers and property management systems, that help with this. The question for the developer is therefore whether the booking system they choose has that connection.

For the VacationRental structured data, the documentation says it is meant for sites already connected with a Google technical account manager and with access to Hotel Center. It points those interested to an interest form and says the form does not guarantee an invitation to the early adopters programme. For an ordinary single-apartment site this markup is therefore not a default option.

What a vacation rental website must have

This is our recommended list, not a regulation or a platform requirement.

• A separate page for each unit, with the exact number of guests, beds and layout, because what a guest searches for is a unit, not a building.
• The price and what it includes, written before the booking button: cleaning, linen, city or tourist tax if charged, deposit.
• Conditions before booking: cancellation, check-in and check-out times, house rules, deposit payment and how a booking is confirmed.
• An availability calendar that matches the platforms, covered in the next section.
• Location from the arrival angle: where to park, how far the centre is, how to get in. A map without that does not answer the guest question.
• Photos of each unit in the same order, with text describing what they show.
• A site that opens quickly and reads well on a phone: try it yourself on a mobile network, away from home wifi.
• Two languages, Serbian and English, if you take foreign guests, and a contact that answers within a reasonable time.

Calendar sync and double bookings

The most common technical worry for owners is a double booking: the same dates confirmed in two places. Airbnb describes calendar sync through an iCal link. You export the address of your Airbnb calendar and paste it into the calendar of the other platform, and for importing you take an address ending in .ics from the other platform and add it to Airbnb. The same is done for each listing separately.

The limit is time. Airbnb says an imported calendar refreshes automatically every 3 hours, with a manual refresh available, and that it can request an update from the other side only a limited number of times. In that window a date can be free in one place while it is taken in another. Also, nights you block on another calendar may not be blocked on Airbnb, for example because of the preparation time you set.

A double booking has a cost. Booking.com says commission is charged on an overbooking too, because the room was offered on the platform, and it also asks you to cover the guest relocation costs. Commission is waived if the property has been live on the platform for less than 30 days or has had fewer than five overbookings in the last 12 months.

For one apartment with few bookings this is tolerable, with the habit of checking the calendar at each new booking. For several units, ask the developer how calendars are kept in line and what the longest delay is, because an iCal link with Airbnb means up to 3 hours.

Enquiry or instant booking

You can offer two models on the site. The first is an enquiry: the guest picks dates and sends a request, and you confirm by hand. The second is instant booking with payment through the site.

For one to three apartments an enquiry with a clear calendar is usually enough and cheaper, and it gives you control over acceptance. Instant booking makes sense when you have more units or guests arrive in season and late in the evening, because the guest gets a confirmation at once. That is our recommendation, not a rule.

What a website does not solve on its own

A site does not replace the visibility a platform gives, especially in the first years when you have no returning guests. That is why we recommend it as one more channel, not as a replacement for the platforms.

It does not solve the legal duties of a person renting out accommodation, which this text does not cover. Check the current rules with your local tourist organisation or your accountant.

Before you offer a lower price on the site than on a platform, read your agreement with the platform, because conditions, including the commission rate, differ by country, property type and agreement.

Related guides

Sources

Key takeaways

• A website cuts commission only on direct bookings, so the maths uses your average stay, your commission rate and the yearly cost.
• Booking.com does not publish one percentage: it depends on country, property type and agreement. Airbnb has a split fee (host usually 3%) and a single fee (15.5% for most hosts on it).
• A site does not bring guests on its own: direct bookings can come from returning guests, Google search and the Business Profile, and people who search your name.
• Airbnb refreshes an imported iCal calendar every 3 hours, so ask the developer what the longest calendar delay is.

Conclusion

Besides the commission saved, a website gives you your own address for the guest to return to: a guest who found you directly once can come back without going through someone else platform. So run the maths with a cautious number of direct stays, and plan the site to answer that guest questions about price, conditions and arrival before they ask them.